Broken Summer
by her life was magazines
Summary: [unfinished][harry. hermione. their perfect summer breaks when they return to school. their significant others. and reality][het][my first fic][reviews appreciated]


**Author's Note:** Right. Um, yeah. This is my first attempt at writing HP fanfiction. I'll continue it if I get positive reviews… 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters. *shakes fist weakly*

**Bear in mind that:**

1. Ron and Hermione are dating

2. Harry and Cho are dating

3. I have paid absolutely no attention to the fourth book. These are just the characters, and not necessarily using JK's plotline. Uhh, yeah, you get it. Review.

Hermione stands in Hogwarts' main hall feeling lost. Fifth year… despite the fact that she's nearly sixteen, it doesn't feel like it. Inside, she still feels like the little know it all with bushy hair and sticking out teeth.

She feels herself sigh. She knows that she's going to have to face the people, the memories that she'd really not think about sooner or later, so why not now? She tries to force her legs to move but can't manage it. Collapsing onto a bench, she rests her head in her hands, feeling, all of a sudden, sickeningly tired.

The worst part, she thinks, is the way everything smells. So familiar, so nostalgic. Events come flooding back to her. First year, entering for the very first time, her stomach a bundle of nerves. Second year, watching Ron and Harry stagger in, late. Third year… fourth year… fifth year, coming clattering in, late for tea, soaking wet with pond water, clutching Ron's hand and being unable to stop giggling.

Happy memories. Sad memories. All contained here, in this hall. She tilts her head back so she can look up at what appears to be the night sky. Squinting, she tries to pick out constellations…

A face pops into her vision. "Hermi?"

She shoots her head up quickly. "Harry! Hi!" Standing up, she almost hugs him, but stops herself, shoving her hands deep inside her pockets, remembering all that happened.

"Hey. Are you OK?" He smiles, and pushes his glasses up his nose, a gesture that she finds oddly appealing.

She nods and pastes a bright smile onto her lips. "Yeah, course I am. You?"

"I'm fine." He smiles again, awkwardly.

"So…" they begin at the same time. Then laugh nervously; insist for the other to go first.

"How's Cho?" Hermione says quickly.

She almost thinks his smile loses some of the brightness. "She's great. As gorgeous as ever." The tops of his ears go slightly red.

She must have imagined it. His smile could still light up a room. "Good. You already saw Ron, right?"

"Yeah. We're sharing a room." 

"Again."

"Yeah. Again." He laughs a little.

"Anyway… I'd better get going. I want to see Ron before the feast. I didn't see him all summer and I miss him."

This time, she's sure of the sadness in his beam. "Young love…" There's almost a wistful tone to his voice.

"Yeah. Young love. Well, it's not like you've never seen it, you and Cho!" She tries to chuckle, but it comes out as a strange hiccupping noise.

He mumbles a reply, almost distinct, but not quite.

"I'll see you around, Harry."

"Yeah, Hermi. See you around."

If someone had looked into his deep, green eyes then, they would have said that the great Harry Potter was feeling something that he hardly ever felt: regret.

Later that day, as Hermione slowly unpacks her trunk, placing each item carefully into her wardrobe, she suddenly feels a hand on her shoulder. She gasps in shock and spins round, only to see the freckly face of Ron smiling into hers.

"Ron!" she says shakily. "You gave me a fright."

His smile melts away quickly and he slings an arm around her shoulder roughly. "Herm, I'm sorry. I just wanted to say hi. Did you have a nice summer?"

He makes to kiss her lips, but she can't bring herself to do so, so at the last second she pulls away. "Yeah, it was okay. You?"

"It wasn't the same without you…" He pouts out his bottom lip in a way that Hermione presumes is supposed to be sweet. She tries to smile and laugh.

"Aw, thanks, hon," she says vaguely.

"Herm, are you all right?" he says anxiously.

She rolls her eyes. "_Yes_, Ron. I'm all right. I just want to unpack without any distractions, is that okay with you?"

"Sorry," he replies timidly.

"Whatever. Listen, I'll see you later."

She returns to her unpacking, turning away from him. He sees no alternative than to leave, his forehead creased. He wonders what's wrong with his girlfriend, but doesn't like to ask again, for fear of getting the same sort of reply. Ron's confused. Whatever he says recently seems to annoy Hermione, seems to piss her off even more than usual. Ever since the summer. 

_What happened in the summer,_ Ron thinks, _that was so important?_

Harry bites a hangnail on his left little finger. He's nervous. About what, he's not entirely sure. He's had an eventful summer, what with one thing or another. Things he'd rather not think about, that he's sure were mistakes.

But, he tells himself over and over again, they felt so right. So how can they be so wrong?

He's interrupted by a pair of lips coming to rest on his cheek and arms flung around him. "Harry!"

He shakes his head, trying to wake himself up. "Cho!" He tries to inject as much enthusiasm into his voice as possible.

"OhmyGod Harry, I haven't seen you in ages!" Cho stands back to survey her boyfriend.

Harry notices how attractive she is, with her straight, shiny black hair and even white smile. She's absolutely beautiful, in an exotic, unconventional way. So why is it that he feels barely any attraction to her, to this gorgeous girl that, judging by the light in her eyes, loves him?

"Ages," he echoes.

She doesn't notice his dejection and keeps talking, about her holiday to America, her new friends, the spellbooks she got over the summer. Harry nods occasionally, laughs even less often.

"So, did you do anything nice?" she says, a little out of breath.

He shrugs. "Not really."

"How come you didn't write?" She sticks out her bottom lip appealingly.

He shrugs again. "Dunno, sorry."

"Meany…" Cho pretends to sulk but gets bored. "Anyway, Harry, I'd better go and get unpacked or something. Maybe go see Hermione."

At the mention of that name, Harry's head shoots up, and red stains his cheeks.

"You OK, babe?"

He nods half-heartedly. "Fine. Say hi to her."

_As fine as I'll ever be._

As Cho trips prettily down the corridor, she manages to run full tilt into Ron. They both stop, start to apologise. Then they recognise each other and smile simultaneously. 

"Hi, Ron!" she says, with a real grin, not the fake sugary smirk she reserves for Harry under the misapprehension that it suits her.

"Cho!" He's suddenly relieved to find someone who's being nice to him. "Nice summer? I missed you!"

"Aww, you too. Yeah, it was great. You? Did you see much of Hermione?"

His eyebrows draw together. "No. I tried to call her…" 

"But you didn't know how, right?"

He smiles again, bashfully. "Dad was going to show me how, but then we couldn't get through. I mean, it doesn't matter if you only get one of the digits wrong, does it?"

She giggles. "Maybe listen a bit closer in Muggle Studies, Ron."

"Maybe… Hey, d'you know where Harry is?"

"Yeah. He was just down there, last time I saw him." She points down the Charms corridor.

"OK. Thanks. Where're you off to now?"

"Don't know. I might find Hermione."

"Good luck. She's in a horrible mood."

"This should be fun then. So's Harry."

They make wry faces at each other and go their separate ways.

Ron continues down the corridor and finds Harry sitting on a bench, staring into thin air. "Harry, my man!"

Harry's shocked out of his oblivion. "Huh? What?"

He sees Ron and flushes, his stomach quailing.

Of all the people he's seen today, he's the worst. Although they saw each other when the rooms were allocated, it was for a split second. He'd got the train in a compartment by himself, huddled in a corner, for the reason that he wanted to avoid either Ron or Cho. Hermione, he'd have to go without, although he'd wanted to see her.

And now here's Ron, smiling innocently.

"Harry! I've hardly seen you today. Where were you on the train?"

"Umm, I got there late and I couldn't find you after that," Harry lies quickly.

"Oh, right. Ugh, back at school." Ron sighs and sits down next to Harry.

_This is it. This is the moment, _Harry suddenly decides. "Ron, I need to tell you something."

"Yeah? What?"

And as Harry looks into Ron's trusting face, he can't do it. Can't destroy their friendship. "Uhh, I've forgotten it!" He forces a laugh.

"Twat!"

"I know…" Harry holds up his hands, mocking himself.

And they sit together, Ron feeling placid, relaxed and happy, and Harry feeling a mix of confusion, regret, and guilt.

Cho bursts into Hermione's room with a bang, just the way she likes to enter. Boldly. 

"HERM!"

Hermione, facing in the other direction, allows herself to shudder, but pastes an almost deliriously happy look on her face as she turns round. "Cho, how are you? Ooh, I missed you!"

She goes over to her, trying to squeal girlishly, and hugs her. _Well, isn't that what you're supposed to do to someone who is reportedly your best friend?_

"Harry told me to say hi," Cho says, for a reason that isn't entirely known to her.

Hermione tries to suppress the feelings that suddenly bubble up. "Did he?"

"Yeah. Well, listen, I better go." Cho remembers the unopened cases in her room. "Later, yeah, honey?"

"Great."

As Cho goes out, Hermione's stomach jolts. She goes back to unpacking her clothes and laying them mechanically in wardrobes or drawers.

At the bottom of her trunk lies a plastic bag. She picks it up, curious. A piece of paper is attached to it.

_'Hermione, _

_I thought you'd be upset to leave this at home.._

_Have a nice term,_

_All my love,_

_Mum x'_

She opens the bag and finds a paper packet. Still slightly bewildered, she opens it, and finds wizard photos. These are a special kind, and newly developed. She hasn't seen them before. The people in these pictures show the emotions and thoughts that the person was feeling at the time that the photo was taken, not what they were actually doing.

The first one is of her father, outside his new dental surgery, smiling proudly. "I succeeded at last," he says quietly.

The second is of her mother and aunt. "I can't believe you're going back to school so soon!" they say.

And the last. Hermione hears and recognises the voice that she hears before she sees who it is. 

"Hermione. I love you more than anyone else. Please, just tell me everything's OK and you feel the same."

Feeling content, Hermione expects to see Ron as she turns over the photo.

But she doesn't.

It's Harry.

**Dedicated to:** People who review. *looks around* Me? Hint? Would I do such a thing?

Now, get your pretty little ass down to the review box or I'll hunt you down and kick it.

Have a nice day. :)


End file.
